Turning off SELINUX

[Dave Stevens]

Quoting Rahul Sundaram <metherid at gmail.com>:

> Hi
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 5:58 PM, Javier Perez   wrote:
>
>> I know SELinux is not about encryption, it is about limiting access to the
>> system AFTER a breach has ocurred. (That is my understanding AFAIK, and
>> that is why I think it is a good idea).
>> My beef is given the NSA origin of this software, It could very well have
>> a backdoor to turn itself off under the appropriate circumstances like an
>> NSA-sponsored breach an allow unrestricted access to my system..
>>
>
> NSA is a *huge* organization with multiple divisions
>
> SELinux  can prevent breaches as well as mitigate the extend of any
> breaches depending on the situation but more importantly,  it is fully free
> and open source software and part of the upstream Linux kernel which has
> been thoroughly reviewed and powered competing Govt agencies including both
> US and Russian defense.
>
> As a side note, running SELinux doesn't prevent say someone monitoring your
> email or chat unless you are encrypting all of that and even then it might
> be just a speed bump for NSA.   If you want to change what they do, engage
> in the right political advocacy groups.
>
> Rahul
>

Not to contradict what Rahul says, which I agree with, you might also  
want to read this:

http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html

Old but still relevant.

Dave




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